ETW. Vonneguet A/W 2012-13 Collection – Half – Part 1

Etw. Vonneguet is a brand increasingly known for its designer Olga’s differing creative direction and desire to challenge the notion of how a designer relates to their work and their audience. She has taken models walking through the streets of Harajuku in guerrilla exhibitions, presented collection using 3D modeling, created perfumes that accompany each season and was memorably the only designer to stick to her schedule in the fashion week that was mostly cancelled after the events of March 2011. This has all brought her brand more and more success with every season, and now with a LaForet stockist (Scramble Market) and high profile endorsement from the likes of Takashimaya, it would be easy to think that her punk spirit might fade as she settles into a comfort zone. Well, think again.

For her A/W 2012-13 collection she went against the grain of Tokyo Fashion Week in personally selection her models which she recruited through a social media campaign, and held her runway show twice, once for press and once for the public. The location too was a major thoroughfare near the entrance of Takashimaya Shinjuku which meant that there was no end of pedestrian traffic peering in as people sped up the escalators parallel to the catwalk. It was a location that echoed the key theme and creative process of the collection – 1/2 (half), a reference to the designer’s role in a given collection only being half of the resulting “fashion”. In this case acknowledging that how the clothes are worn and coordinated is increasingly out of the designer’s hands in an increasingly savvy consumer age.

To this end, many of the clothes could be reversed, worn multiple ways and in particular, the amorphous knitwear invited experimentation from the wearer. The colours were a consciously controversial decision from Olga, who simply noted that she wanted to have fun with spring colours in her experimentations with new dyeing techniques, something we will be looking at in part 2. For now, enjoy the show itself which took place in completely natural light outside in Shinjuku. The foil runway illuminated with UV light gave a hint of a glow to some of the whites in the collection, but by and large seemed to primarily connect to the headpieces that seemed to have been spun by a silk worm.

Gradients to die for in these half crisp lines, half hand dyed shirts that are sure to be a hit.

This season, Etw. Vonneguet was clearly aiming for the relaxed silhouette that borders on the amorphous that we are seeing all over Tokyo right now.

Join us for part 2 tomorrow, where we will have a look in the showroom, accessories line, and gorgeous fabrics and treatments that really do demand a closer look.